brokenbits

I found this project a couple of weeks ago on the web and I though it was very cool and totally worthwhile replicating. So, I'm at the point where I'm trying to program the configuration sketch into the Arduino Uno. BTW, I have the Uno R3 which is all that Sparkfun is selling these days. Anyway, the configuration sketch is loaded and when I open up the serial monitor window I'll see the loaded program generating message to "enter any key" to the start the process of re-configuring the EEPROM. So, I'll enter a letter into the input box and click send then I'll see the message "erasing EEPROM" or something like that and there it will hang. I've let it sit in this state for about 15 minutes and nothing else happens. How long should it take to run the configuration sketch once installed into the Uno? If anyone can help I would be most appreciative.

Best regards,

Chris.

SepeSy

Residents of countries which have a comma as "official" decimal separator and for whom Cheap-Thermocam or ThermalCamera software does not work: start the software specifyinga more sensible locale i.e.:

java -Duser.country=EN -Duser.language=en -jar ThermalCamera.jar

Or fix the default system locale settings.

Cheers,

Seppo

brokenbits

I may have answered my own question. Seems I'm jumping the gun a bit with the software part. I thought the configuration sketch was for the Arduino but on closer inspections of the code comments, it's actually for the thermal sensor eeprom which is not connected yet. Good deal. I'll connect everything together then re-run the config sketch and see if that works.

charlyv

Hello,This is probably one of the best projects I have ever come across, and I almost have all of the necessary parts to begin my build. I had one question,

Did you ever consider the technique of "stacking" a number of scans? Even though the data is not video, it is pixel centric. The technique increases the signal-to-noise ratio and increases the dynamic range , by pixel. Here, a 'pixel' is a data measure point in temperature, but it is related to a specific area that has been measured, just like a pixel of RGB would be in video. The technique uses averaging and summing, so that the image can be , say put into a higher resolution , much like in photoshop, you take a low resolution image and convert it from 72dpi to 300dpi, you get much more definition. This works by using a stacking algorithm from the data in one image only, but true stacking lets you create a bitmap of higher resolution, and then fill in the data using from 2 to up to a hundred similar scans run through the stacking algorithm. The concept is explained below in this astronomy website that covers the technology fairly well:

http://keithwiley.com/astroPhotography/imageStacking.shtml

When I get my system built , I planned on trying it, however I wanted to run it by you to see if it made technical sense in this context.

Hello,This is probably one of the best projects I have ever come across, and I almost have all of the necessary parts to begin my build. I had one question,

Did you ever consider the technique of "stacking" a number of scans? Even though the data is not video, it is pixel centric. The technique increases the signal-to-noise ratio and increases the dynamic range , by pixel. Here, a 'pixel' is a data measure point in temperature, but it is related to a specific area that has been measured, just like a pixel of RGB would be in video. The technique uses averaging and summing, so that the image can be , say put into a higher resolution , much like in photoshop, you take a low resolution image and convert it from 72dpi to 300dpi, you get much more definition. This works by using a stacking algorithm from the data in one image only, but true stacking lets you create a bitmap of higher resolution, and then fill in the data using from 2 to up to a hundred similar scans run through the stacking algorithm. The concept is explained below in this astronomy website that covers the technology fairly well:

http://keithwiley.com/astroPhotography/imageStacking.shtml

When I get my system built , I planned on trying it, however I wanted to run it by you to see if it made technical sense in this context.

Thanks so much for what you did. Hope to hear from you soon.

CharlyV

healthyfatboy

Any chance this sensor is the exact same one?http://www.goodluckbuy.com/digital-non-contact-infrared-ray-temperature-sensor-melexis-mlx90614esf-dci-ds.htmlI don't want to plunk the money down on something from China that I'm not sure is going to be right when I can get a BCI version for the same price here in the US.My main concern is I don't know if I can program the EEPROM of the BCI the same way as the DCI. If I can, I would rather get the BCI since it'll get here faster from a reliable source.

healthyfatboy

For those following this project, does anyone want to do a group buy on the new sensor? It's about $65/sensor if you buy one but if we can get 10 people in the CONUS to go in on a group buy, we could save about $8-9 in the end.

Mach7541

I am interested in attempting this project, my only reservation is the EVB90620... as you are probably well aware, it's the Evaluation Board for the MLX90620... but it costs +$300... I noticed you didn't list it on your parts list. I'm curious if that is what you used the Arduino for... in place of the EVB90620.

I just want to add my voice to those already here. This is a fantastic project. Mr Maxbot, you have really done something good here!

I built it, and I gave it to my Year 11 Physics class to analyse their houses for thermal efficiency. They loved it, and put a fantastic amount of effort in - it was really engaging.

I designed a veroboard shield, and some assessments to go with this, You can get them by logging into the Australian Science Teachers Moodle site http://moodle.asta.edu.au/course/view.php?id=57 (free acount).

There is also an activity on using an arduino to measure g, and to learn about measurement uncertainties there ; and a 10 weeks electronics -> microcontrollers course- help yourselves if it is useful.